Whether you have a product to sell or want to make money with affiliate marketing, Clickbank could be a solution for you. On the web you’ll find claims that you can make $100k a month. That’s unlikely. But with a good strategy it is possible to make money promoting and selling digital products with Clickbank.

What is Clickbank?

In essence, affiliate marketing is about selling other people’s products via your website or blog, or getting other people to market your product on their sites. Whether you’ve a product to sell or want to promote other people’s products, Clickbank is a simple way to do this.

Clickbank deals in digital and electronic media goods – any product that can be delivered online. It could be ebooks, software, video or digital images and the like. If you have a digital product to sell, you pay a small fee (about $50) to register your product on the Clickbank marketplace.

Affilate marketers pay nothing to start up. Affiliates select one or more products to promote and get a commission on any sales made as a result of their promotion. Commissions can be much higher than other affiliate programs – anything up to 75%.

When you join as an affiliate you are given a link (known as a ‘hoplink’) that allows Clickbank to track all sales made via your link. They do the math and you get the proceeds. Even if you promote a bunch of products, it’s all done via one account.

Money Nuts and Bolts

As an affiliate you get a proportion of the sale. That’s the commission minus modest handling charges levied by Clickbank. There’s a $1 ‘stocking fee’. Clickbank also take 7.5% of the retail price. That still means that a product that retails for $50 and which pays 50% commission will give you an excellent return of $21.25.

Once you’ve reached a payment threshold (you can set it – it can be as little as $10) Clickbank pays out like clockwork on a 2-weekly basis. After three payments you can have weekly payments, but there is a payment processing fee of $2.50. That means it’s not worth setting the threshold too low or requesting payment too often. After you’ve been paid out three times by check you have the option of direct payment to your bank account.

What You Need

Clickbank’s basic requirements are two webpages. They can be on your website or even on a blog. These ‘landing pages’ must conform to Clickbank rules. The first is a pitch page. Here you deliver all the relevant product information, including price, format (e.g. pdf; Mac/Windows), delivery time and method (e.g. email or download).

The “thank you page” appears after completion of a sale. It must include a valid email address for buyers to contact you and for technical support (which Clickbank does not provide). Using an autoresponder is not allowed – you must be contactable and available to purchasers and ready to respond within 24 hours. Further information on the payment appears on this page and you must also including operating or use instructions.

Simplicity itself?

The automated tracking system and efficient administration make the process really simple. Making money online requires a bit of effort. Your earnings will ultimately depend on your product and on your effectiveness as a marketer.

Making the Money

There are scores of marketing strategies out there. It’s up to you how you go about it, within the guidelines provided by Clickbank. Directory listings, article posts, video posts, blog entries, free classifieds: it’s up to you.

Clickbank Success Tips

Product choice: A good product has a better chance of selling itself, so be discriminating. The Clickbank Marketplace page gives statistics on how many affiliates are promoting the product. That can be an index of quality.

There are two strategies for Clickbank product choice. If you choose a product that is popular with affiliates, that suggests it’s a desirable product but you’ll have more competition to make sales. A less popular product can be equally rewarding because competition is less, if you choose carefully. If promoting several products, you can conjoin strategies and promote both types.

Choose a product you know something about and can be enthusiastic about. Choose products that complement your website or blog so that it will appeal to the interests of visitors to your site. (There’s no point in selling an instructional video on snowboarding if your website is about cookery).

Promotion: Be creative and make sure you know the ropes. A lot of effort may be required to drive purchasers to your link. Once you have them, you’ll need strategies to persuade them to buy (and to buy from you). Providing quality information about the product, and the gap it will fill for would-be purchasers, is crucial.

It can involve hard work – but canny and dedicated affiliates can earn good money with Clickbank and sellers of digital products can increase their web visibility hugely.